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London Review of Books
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Close Readings is a new multi-series podcast subscription from the London Review of Books exploring different periods of literature through selections of key works. A new episode will appear every month from each of our Close Readings series running this year. This feed is identical to the 'free' version of Close Readings, which contains free extracts for non-subscribers. Subscribers can listen to all the full episodes in both feeds: https://podcasts.apple.com/ug/podcast/close-readings/id1669485143 FOUR NEW SERIES STARTING IN 2026! To be announced soon... RUNNING IN 2025: 'Conversations in Philosophy' with Jonathan Rée and James Wood 'Fiction and the Fantastic' with Marina Warner, Anna Della Subin, Adam Thirlwell and Chloe Aridjis 'Love and Death' with Seamus Perry and Mark Ford 'Novel Approaches' with Clare Bucknell, Thomas Jones and other guests ALSO INCLUDED IN YOUR CLOSE READINGS SUBSCRIPTION: 'Among the Ancients' with Emily Wilson and Thomas Jones 'Medieval Beginnings' with Irina Dumitrescu and Mary Wellesley 'The Long and Short' with Mark Ford and Seamus Perry 'Modern-ish Poets: Series 1' with Mark Ford and Seamus Perry 'Among the Ancients II' with Emily Wilson and Thomas Jones 'On Satire' with Colin Burrow and Clare Bucknell 'Human Conditions' with Adam Shatz, Judith Butler, Pankaj Mishra and Brent Hayes Edwards 'Political Poems' with Mark Ford and Seamus Perry 'Medieval LOLs' with Irina Dumitrescu and Mary Wellesley Get in touch: podcasts@lrb.co.uk

  1. 13 MINS AGO • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

    London Revisited: The Medieval Capital

    When the Angles, Saxons and Jutes began settling across England in the wake of the Roman retreat in the early fifth century, the city they found on the north bank of the Thames was hardly a city at all. Within its walls were the great abandoned ruins of antiquity, ‘the works of giants’ as one Anglo-Saxon poet put it, and little else. For hundreds of years the site was patchily inhabited, but two features indicated its future importance. In 604, the first Bishop of London was appointed, leading to the continuous presence of Christianity and the founding of St Paul’s Cathedral; and down the river, the emergence of the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Lundenwic near where Covent Garden is today confirmed the area’s prime position as a trading centre. By the time Alfred repelled the Danes in the ninth century, London’s value had been realised, and the symbolic movement of the royal court from Winchester to Westminster under Edward the Confessor set London’s trajectory. In this episode, Rosemary is joined by Matthew Davies, professor of urban history at Birkbeck, to trace this story of London through the multiple invasions, grand projects and power struggles that took it from a field of ruins to a flourishing medieval capital. Reading by Duncan Wilkins Further reading in the LRB: Eamon Duffy on Westminster: ⁠https://lrb.me/lrep301⁠ Ferdinand Mount on Henry III: ⁠https://lrb.me/lrep304⁠ Tom Shippey on Alfred: ⁠https://lrb.me/lrep302⁠ Ysenda Maxtone Graham on the Strand: ⁠https://lrb.me/lrep303⁠

    1h 29m

  2. MAR 16 • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

    Narrative Poems: ‘Paradise Lost’ (Book 9) by John Milton

    When Milton came to describe Eve’s tasting of the forbidden fruit, he knew he couldn’t rely on suspense to grip the reader. Instead, he used multiple genres and perspectives to interrogate the moral and emotional significance of ‘man’s first disobedience’, self-consciously drawing on the resources of Renaissance tragedy, pastoral and love poetry to achieve his great innovation, the Christian epic. In this episode, Seamus and Mark look at the ways in which Milton’s study of temptation and free will became an unparalleled expression of poetic brilliance, from its thrillingly ambiguous and seductive depiction of Satan to its vivid dramatisation of the reproachful lovers confronting the consequences of their misdeeds, and ultimately its claim to being the finest love poem in English. Read more in the LRB: Colin Burrow: Loving Milton https://lrb.me/npmilton01 Tom Paulin: Milton and the Regicides: https://lrb.me/mpmilton02 Tobias Gregory: Milton’s Theology: https://lrb.me/npmilton03

    1h 7m

  3. MAR 9 • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

    Nature in Crisis: ‘Blue Machine’ by Helen Czerski

    In ‘Blue Machine’ (2024), Helen Czerski refigures the ocean as an enormous planetary engine, converting light and heat into motion. Her book invites us to see the ocean not as an ‘absence’ but an intricate series of operations that makes life as we know it possible. In this episode, Meehan Crist and Peter Godfrey-Smith reflect on the ways Czerski’s book has altered their thinking about the ocean, and whether new perspectives can ever be enough to change public policy. Get the book: ⁠https://lrb.me/czerskicr⁠ More from the LRB: Richard Hamblyn on deep-sea exploration: ⁠https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v27/n21/richard-hamblyn/hurrah-for-the-dredge⁠ Katherine Rundell on the greenland shark: ⁠https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v42/n09/katherine-rundell/consider-the-greenland-shark⁠ Liam Shaw on coral: ⁠https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v44/n22/liam-shaw/in-the-photic-zone⁠ Amia Srinivasan reviews Peter’s book on octopus minds: ⁠https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v39/n17/amia-srinivasan/the-sucker-the-sucker⁠ Film: Forecasting D-Day ⁠https://www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and-videos/videos/lrb-films-interviews/forecasting-d-day⁠ Next episode: ‘The Burning Earth’ by Sunil Amrith ⁠https://lrb.me/amrithcr

    1h 4m

  4. MAR 2 • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

    Who’s afraid of realism? ‘Notes from Underground’ by Fyodor Dostoevsky

    Dostoevsky’s 1864 novella doesn’t contain the descriptive detail, impersonal narration or many other features of 19th-century realism established by Flaubert. The book’s two-part structure, which starts with a 40-year-old’s furious rant against rationalism and moves on to present three humiliating episodes from his earlier life, offers no kind of conclusion. Instead, it is the unbearable moments of psychological truth that make ‘Notes from Underground’ a revolutionary development in the history of realism. In this episode, James Wood is joined by the novelist and critic Adam Thirlwell to consider Dostoevsky’s mastery of the inner life and the experiences that shaped his hostility to rational egoism, from being subjected to a mock execution and four years in a Siberian prison camp to his reading of Hegel and a visit to London’s Crystal Palace. Read more in the LRB on Dostoevsky: John Bayley: https://lrb.me/realismep301 Daniel Soar: https://lrb.me/realismep302 Michael Wood: https://lrb.me/realismep303

    1h 9m

  5. FEB 23 • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

    London Revisited: Mosaics, Archers and a Walled Garden

    After Roman London was hit by a catastrophic fire in about 125 AD, perhaps the result of another local revolt, it entered a new period of sophistication which saw the emergence of elaborate townhouses for its mercantile and administrative elite, richly embellished with mosaics and wall paintings. But the city had stopped growing, and when a devastating plague arrived in about 165 AD, which may well have been Europe’s first encounter with smallpox, it was probably already on a long slow decline caused by its diminishing importance as a trading hub. To continue Roman London’s story to its eventual fate as an abandoned walled garden, Rosemary Hill is joined again by Dominic Perring, author of 'London in the Roman World', to consider what objects such as a Greek spell found on the Thames foreshore, and a small bronze archer found in Cheapside, can tell us about the fortunes of the city, and why the construction of the London Wall in the early 3rd century marked a terminal transformation of its role in the Roman Empire.

    1h 4m

  6. FEB 16 • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

    Narrative Poems: ‘Venus and Adonis’ and ‘The Rape of Lucrece’ by William Shakespeare

    Like Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare made good use of his time off when the theatres were shut for plague in 1593. 'Venus and Adonis' appeared in quarto that year and become by far the most popular work Shakespeare published in his lifetime, running to ten editions before his death (compared to just four for Romeo and Juliet). In this episode, Seamus and Mark consider the many ways in which Shakespeare’s poem displays its author's remarkable originality, from its peculiar reshaping of the Ovidian myth into a tale of comic mismatch, to its surprising diversion into the psychology of grief. They then look at his disturbing follow-up, 'The Rape of Lucrece' (1594), in which a chilling depiction of self-conscious, premeditated evil anticipates characters such as Iago and Macbeth. Further reading in the LRB: Stephen Orgel on Shakespeare's poems: https://lrb.me/npshakespeare01 Barbara Everett on the sonnets: https://lrb.me/npshakespeare02

    1h 2m

  7. FEB 9 • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

    Nature in Crisis: ‘The Light Eaters’ by Zoë Schlanger

    In ‘The Light Eaters’ (2024), Zoë Schlanger reports from the frontiers of botany, where researchers are discovering forms of sensing, signalling and responding that challenge our ideas of plants as passive life forms. Meehan Crist and Peter Godfrey-Smith explore Schlanger’s account of new research into plant behaviour. They examine the case for plant agency – and the far more speculative claims for plant consciousness – and attempt to make sense of some astonishing discoveries. Get the book: https://lrb.me/schlangercr Further reading from the LRB: Francis Gooding on mushroom brains: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v43/n10/francis-gooding/from-its-myriad-tips Andrew Sugden on the life of a leaf: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v35/n03/andrew-sugden/hairy-spiny-or-naked Ian Hacking on human thinking about plants: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v13/n04/ian-hacking/living-things Francis Gooding on the hidden life of trees: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v39/n04/francis-gooding/thinking-about-how-they-think Next episode: ‘Blue Machine’ by Helen Czerski https://lrb.me/czerskicr

    59 min

  8. FEB 2 • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

    Who's afraid of realism? 'Madame Bovary' by Gustave Flaubert (part two)

    ‘He opened him up and found nothing.’ These are the doctor’s findings at Charles Bovary’s autopsy near the end of 'Madame Bovary'. Taken on its own, it’s a simple medical observation. In the context of Emma Bovary’s tragic story, it serves as a condemnation not just of Charles’s emptiness but the whole provincial world Flaubert has been describing. In the second part of his analysis of 'Madame Bovary', James Wood considers the major episodes leading to Emma’s death and argues that what made Flaubert’s realism dangerous was not its depictions of infidelity, but its use of cliché to expose French bourgeois lives constructed entirely of received ideas and second-hand emotions. Further reading in the LRB: Julian Barnes on translations of Madame Bovary: ⁠https://lrb.me/realismep201⁠ Michael Wood on 'Sentimental Education': ⁠https://lrb.me/realismep202⁠

    50 min
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Ratings & Reviews

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out of 5
7 Ratings

About

Close Readings is a new multi-series podcast subscription from the London Review of Books exploring different periods of literature through selections of key works. A new episode will appear every month from each of our Close Readings series running this year. This feed is identical to the 'free' version of Close Readings, which contains free extracts for non-subscribers. Subscribers can listen to all the full episodes in both feeds: https://podcasts.apple.com/ug/podcast/close-readings/id1669485143 FOUR NEW SERIES STARTING IN 2026! To be announced soon... RUNNING IN 2025: 'Conversations in Philosophy' with Jonathan Rée and James Wood 'Fiction and the Fantastic' with Marina Warner, Anna Della Subin, Adam Thirlwell and Chloe Aridjis 'Love and Death' with Seamus Perry and Mark Ford 'Novel Approaches' with Clare Bucknell, Thomas Jones and other guests ALSO INCLUDED IN YOUR CLOSE READINGS SUBSCRIPTION: 'Among the Ancients' with Emily Wilson and Thomas Jones 'Medieval Beginnings' with Irina Dumitrescu and Mary Wellesley 'The Long and Short' with Mark Ford and Seamus Perry 'Modern-ish Poets: Series 1' with Mark Ford and Seamus Perry 'Among the Ancients II' with Emily Wilson and Thomas Jones 'On Satire' with Colin Burrow and Clare Bucknell 'Human Conditions' with Adam Shatz, Judith Butler, Pankaj Mishra and Brent Hayes Edwards 'Political Poems' with Mark Ford and Seamus Perry 'Medieval LOLs' with Irina Dumitrescu and Mary Wellesley Get in touch: podcasts@lrb.co.uk

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